Will Raj Babbar change Congress fate in Ghaziabad?

New Delhi: The Congress has fielded its star campaigner Raj Babbar from Ghaziabad with an objective of killing two birds with one stone. The candidature of Raj Babbar will not only give sleepless night to the BJP candidate but also shun the groupism among local Congress leaders.

Now, the prestigious Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency won’t be a safe seat for BJP nominee. In the last Lok Sabha polls, the Congress candidate from Ghaziabad, in a defiance to BJP president Rajnath Singh bagged 2,68,000 votes.

Dainik Jagran had earlier published this news that the Congress is giving enough priority to Ghaziabad seat and this year, things are not going to be a mere cake walk.

Before finalizing on Raj Babbar’s name, several factors related to popular faces, caste calculation and local politics were taken into consideration.

Raj Babbar is Punjabi and his wife Nadira Babbar is Muslim. There are around 1.5 lakh Punjabi and close to 4 lakh Muslim voters in Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency.

Besides being a politician, Raj Babbar is a celebrity as well. Since he was associated with the movement against a power project in Dadri, the party believes that he has gained a pro-farmer image to a certain extent, which can be encashed on in the elections.

Dhaulana, Loni and Muzaffarnagar area comprise a large number of farmers and the Congress will try to woo them by fielding Raj Babbar.

It also needs to be mentioned here that Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal is also in alliance with Congress and the party has tried to entice the Jat community by playing Jat reservation card.

Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson Rajiv Tyagi said that Raj Babbar is a senior leader and the party is quite excited over the prospect of latter contesting from the prestigious seat. Congress’ Ghaziabad parliamentary seat in-charge Lokesh Chaudhary said that Raj Babbar is a precedent of ideal politics and the party workers wanted his candidature from the seat.

A brief snapshot of Raj Babbar’s profile

Name– Raj BabbarDate of Birth – 23 June, 1952Educational qualification – Graduate from National School of Drama (NSD)Bollywood career – A successful actor in Hindi and Punjabi movies, Raj Babbar has played leading role in more than dozen hit filmsPolitical career– Became a member of Rajya Sabha for the first time in 1994. He got elected to Lok Sabha thrice since 1999. Raj Babbar defeated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav in 2009 Lok Sabha by-elections.